Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: {And they shall not display their adornment except to their husbands or their fathers - to His saying - or their women} the verse.

The Shaykh : As for the hidden adornment, it is what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has permitted to be displayed to all of their mahrams and to Muslim women in the well-known verse when our Lord the Mighty and Majestic said: And thus our Lord the Mighty and Majestic lists the rest of the mahrams until He says: So His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He, contains a clear indication that it is permissible for the Muslim woman to display of her hidden adornment what she displays to her father, her brother, her sister, and other mahrams. Likewise, the 'awrah of a woman with a Muslim woman is limited to this hidden adornment. To understand what the hidden adornment is, we must return to what women were doing in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance and before they entered Islam. When they believed in Allah and His Messenger and adopted Islam as a religion, these rulings came to clarify for these women what is permissible for them regarding non-mahrams, which is only the face and the hands; that is the apparent adornment. And what is permissible for them regarding mahrams is the hidden adornment. So what is the hidden adornment? Here we must pause briefly at the scholars' interpretation of the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, the verse. What is meant by this word? Is the intention the adornment itself or the place of the adornment? That is, does the verse mean they shall not display the places of adornment even if there is nothing of the adornment on them, or is the intention that they shall not display those places while wearing the adornment? There are two opinions among the scholars, and without doubt the correct opinion adopted by the scholars of exegesis is that the meaning is they shall not display the places of adornment, and the intention is not that they shall not display the adornment. This is because if a woman takes a necklace and puts it on her chest or in her hands, she has displayed the adornment. Is this what she was forbidden from? The answer is no; rather, she was forbidden from displaying the adornment while it is in its place.
So the intention of the verse is the places of adornment except for these mahrams, and then for Muslim women as we mentioned. This means that we keep in mind that there are places where it was not the custom of women, even up to this hour, to place adornment on them. For example, is there adornment on the thigh? The answer is no. Is there adornment on the back? The answer is no. Is there adornment on the breasts? The answer is no. Is there adornment under the armpit? And count whatever you wish; the answer to all is no, no.